Asociación Cultural
Colectivo Barbaón - Spain
Project Team
- Co-ordination:
Hipólito Collado Giraldo
- Extremadura
records: Antonio
Criado Vadillo, Fernando Grande Turégano, Fuentes Fernando,
Milagros Fernández Algaba, Montserrat Girón Abumalham,
Joanjo Pulido Royo
The Extremadura
Region contribution to the EuroPreArt database
The Cultural Association Colectivo
Barbaón is a team of about 20 young field investigators
constituted to study Rock Art in the Extremadura region, south-western
Spain, mainly. The team is composed by Historians, Art historians,
Archaeologists, and Topographers basically, who work together since
1997 always under the supervision of Mr. Jose Julio García
Arranz, Professor of Art History in Extremaduran University, and
Mr. Hipolito Collado Giraldo, Prehistoric Art expert and Archaeologist.
General activities of Colectivo
Barbaón since its creation have been mainly scientific investigations
not forgetting divulgative issues. Between these activities are:
- Arrangement and setting of an exhibition
about Schematic Rock Art at Monfragüe’s Natural Park exhibited
at Cáceres Provincial Museum, May-June 1999.
- Conferences and communications of didactic
character in schools and colleges and of scientific character
in congresses and specialised meetings.
- Web-site composition with all the information
referent to works and projects of the Association (www.artrex.com
/ E-mail of Association:barbaon@eresmas.com).
- Publications:
Colectivo Barbaón (1998): "Nuevas Pinturas Rupestres
en la Provincia de Cáceres: 42 nuevos abrigos en el Parque
Natural de Monfragüe", Revista de Arqueología,
nº 212, p.12-17.
Colectivo Barbaón (2000): "El Parque Natural de Monfragüe.
La mayor concentración de pintura esquemática en
Extremadura". Actas del Congreso Internacional de Arte
Rupestre. Vigo 1999 (edición digital)
Rock Art and specially Schematic
rock art is one of the past evidences fully present in the Extremadura
region Sierras and Valleys from North to South. Included in the
general plans and budgets for improving and supporting knowledge
and investigation of the regional department of Cultural Affairs
of the Extremadura Government –Consejería de Cultura de
la Junta de Extremadura- it has experimented special attention
in the last 7/8 years as a cultural phenomenon of the past and an
important element of Historical Patrimony valuable in present times.
The presence of this historical-anthropological
manifestations is quite extensive in Spain and, particularly in
Extremadura there are several nucleuses of Schematic rock art. Some
of them known from first decades of XXth century and others discovered
between the 70’s till nowadays, that are needing a relationated,
spatial and technologically updated study. These are the lines of
Colectivo Barbaon proposals and have been the lines of the promotional
projects held by Cultural Affairs department in order to make possible
first steps to global knowledge of the sites. In the last years
there have been carried out several projects with modern methodologies
and counting on technological advances to compile information of
regional Rock art evidences in the way to set the basis for deeper
studies.
The Extremadura contribution
to EuroPreArt presents two examples of the more impressive sites
of the region. The first in the Northern area, located in the Monfragüe
Natural Park and the second in the South-western Area, located,
in the Guadiana River Valley with an extent of 2 km.
Monfragüe’s Natural Park
site contains 100 localised rock shelters with Schematic paintings
along its sierras and valleys related to a Neolithic - Iron Age
chronology –IV-III millennia b.C. – 700 b.C.- In this EuroPreArt
archive a sample of 38 sites (35 % of site) can be found. Revision
studies in this area began in 1997 and they are still in process
of documentation because of the great amount of shelters dispersed
in an extensive territory where field works allowed take little
time for the Protected Environment status of the Park.
Guadiana Valley open air carvings
site is one of the more recent studies developed in the region.
It began in Jan 2001 and its been carried out along 5 months along
the year leaving the impressive result of almost 600 engraved rocks
that put evidence of Naturalistic, Emi-naturalistic and Schematic
styles from Palaeolithic, Neolithic- Chalcolithic, Bronze Age and
Iron Age chronology for those of prehistoric and protohistoric typologies,
in incision and percussion techniques, though also Medieval and
Modern ones are present on the site. EuroPreArt database. has been
filled with a sample of 64 rocks, trying to show all types, though
there are still great amount of rock-sites whose documentation is
being processed.
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